Obesity

Too much body fat is not good for your health. It can increase your risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, cancer, and other serious diseases.

If you’re obese, it means that your body has a very high amount of body fat compared to lean body mass. Most doctors and health professionals in New Zealand use a measurement called the Body Mass Index (the BMI) to calculate whether you’re underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese. For adults, a BMI measurement over 30 is considered to be obese. Your risk of developing health problems increases as your BMI gets higher.

Many New Zealanders are overweight or obese. In 2013/14, the New Zealand Health Survey found that almost 1 in 3 adults aged 15 and over were obese, while 1 in 10 children aged up to 14 years were obese.

The number of New Zealanders who are obese is increasing. In 2013/14 over a million New Zealand adults were obese. Many experts believe that this is because we live in an environment that promotes over-consumption of food and drinks, and limits our opportunities for physical activity.

How people become overweight and obese

Being a healthy weight is about balancing energy intake (food and drinks) with energy expenditure (body requirements, and physical activity).

People gain weight when they consume more energy than they use. What a person eats and drinks, and how much activity they do directly affects whether they gain, lose or stay the same weight.

Making healthy food and activity choices

Making good choices about what you eat and drink and being physically active are important to achieve and keep a healthy body weight.

To avoid gaining excess weight and to lose weight:

Choose nutritious foods that are low in energy (for example with very little fat and no added sugar)

Getting active every day

As well as helping you reach or maintain a healthy weight, regular activity can lower your stress levels, improve your posture, help you sleep better, and keep your bones and muscles strong.

To maintain a healthy weight, try to aim for at least two and a half hours a week. This works out to be around 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week. To lose weight, aim to double this amount. Mix in some vigorous activity for extra benefits. Reduce the amount of time you spend sitting, especially for long periods, for example at a desk or in front of a TV.

Focus on making gradual changes to your lifestyle. Avoid dieting on and off, counting calories, or trying difficult exercise that you can’t keep up.

Things to remember

Check in with a health professional before you start changing your diet or activity. They’ll be able to give you good advice on how to approach it, taking into account any other issues about your health or lifestyle.

Be realistic about your goals – any weight loss should be slow. The best kinds of changes are the ones that you can make a part of your everyday life for good.

If you lose or gain weight very quickly, you should talk to your doctor immediately. It could indicate that there’s a problem with your hormones, a medication that you’re taking, or another condition that you have.